Election Forecast: Obama Begins With Tenuous Advantage  —  The first look at the 2012 FiveThirtyEight presidential forecast has Barack Obama as a very slight favorite to win re-election.  But his advantage equates to only a two-point lead in the national popular vote, and the edge …

Clinton: 'I'm very sorry'  —  (CNN) - Bill Clinton regrets the swirl over comments he made earlier in the week in which he appeared to suggest he would be open to extending the so-called Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the former president said Thursday.  —  “I'm very sorry about what happened …

New Poll: The Supreme Court and the Health Care Law  —  More than two-thirds of Americans hope the Supreme Court will overturn some or all of the 2010 health care law, according to a new poll conducted by The New York Times and CBS News.  Just 24 percent said they hoped the court “would keep the entire health care law in place.”

My mistake, Brett Kimberlin, and attacks on my mother...  Never doubt that God works in mysterious ways.  Especially in our failures and mistakes.  —  Like too many Americans nowadays, I grew up in a single-mother home.  I helped raise my two little brothers while my mother worked and went …

Holder Claims Emails Using Words ‘Fast and Furious’ Don't Refer to Operation Fast and Furious  —  (CNSNews.com) - Attorney General Eric Holder claimed during congressional testimony today that internal Justice Department emails that use the phrase “Fast and Furious” do not refer …

Did Young Mitt Romney Impersonate A Police Officer?  Another Witness Says Yes  —  Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy  —  When Mitt Romney was a college freshman, he told fellow residents of his Stanford University dormitory that he sometimes disguised himself …

Secret talks under way about ‘fiscal cliff’  —  A growing number of lawmakers are alarmed that Congress's do-nothing posture ahead of the year-end fiscal cliff could provoke a massive voter backlash and economic catastrophe if they don't start laying the groundwork right now to cut a deal.

Obama's Third-Party History  —  On the evening of January 11, 1996, while Mitt Romney was in the final years of his run as the head of Bain Capital, Barack Obama formally joined the New Party, which was deeply hostile to the mainstream of the Democratic party and even to American capitalism.

Stuyvesant HS students hold ‘Slutty Wednesday’ to protest school's strict dress code policy  —  Nearly 100 smarties at the city's top-performing high school bared their bodies in “risque” outfits yesterday to denounce their school's conservative dress code — which bans the exposure of shoulders, midriffs, lower backs, bras and undies.

Health reform: What if Obama hadn't tried it?  —  When you see these conversations about whether Obama should have pursued health care reform rather than continuing to “focus on the economy,” it's worth keeping a couple of things in mind.  —  1) The calendar: The stimulus bill passed in February 2009.

Foie-mageddon: California in one last foie gras binge before statewide ban  —  A foie gras frenzy is under way in California as the state prepares to become the first in America to ban the controversial delicacy.  —  California's decision to ban foie gras - pictured above in its pate form …

Dems call on House panel to release Waters report in ethics case  —  Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and 68 of her Democratic colleagues are pushing the House Ethics Committee to release a recently completed report that absolved the secretive panel of any wrongdoing in its case against the veteran lawmaker.

Steve Smith, reputed white supremacist, causes stir by winning election to Pennsylvania county GOP seat  —  Leaders of the Republican Committee of Luzerne County, Pa., are trying to figure out whether they can oust a reputed white supremacist who was elected to the committee with one vote - his own.

What the Media Choose Not to Know about Trayvon  —  Unnerved by an unspoken mix of political bias and racial queasiness, the major media have chosen to know as little about Trayvon Martin as they know about Barack Obama.  —  As a case in point, consider this boy vs. man fable spun by the New York Times' Charles Blow: